On Wednesday, KINGSTON, Jamaica—The Integrity Commission(IC) noted “with alarm” comments made by government legislator Everald Warmington during Tuesday’s sitting of the Standing Finance Committee of the House of Representatives.
In a statement, the IC said that Warmington “falsely claimed that the Commission’s financial and accounting affairs have not been audited for years and that the Commission had submitted no audit report to Parliament.”
The government legislator told legislators, “We haven’t seen an audit of that department tabled in this House, but they are spending taxpayers’ money.”
Warmington then told Finance Minister Dr Nigel Clarke that he was saying that an audit report from that IC needs to be obtained before the next financial year.
“There is no way that we will approve another two billion (One Jamaica dollar=US$0.008 cents) for a department that has not been audited for years. OK. So, I expect that the audit be laid here before March next year,” he added.
Clarke said he does not think a “reasonable person could object to your requirements. These are public funds. And I have no reason to expect that that’s a difficult proposition.”
But the Commission said it wanted to set the record straight, noting that, contrary to Warmington’s statements, the Integrity Commission’s accounting and financial affairs have been audited every year in its six years of existence.
“The audits, in each case, have been conducted by an independent external auditor whose appointment has been approved, in writing, by the Minister of Finance himself.”
The Commission said that contrary to Warmington’s statementsWarmington’s statements, audited Financial Statements of the Commission have been formally submitted to and tabled in Parliament in each of those six years as a part of the Commission’s Annual Reports.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the Annual Audits of the Commission have been conducted under and in compliance with Section 20(1) of the ICA, which provides that “the Commission shall keep proper accounts of its receipts, payments, assets, and liabilities, and such accounts shall be audited annually by an auditor appointed each year by the Commission with the approval of the minister (of finance).”
The IC said that Section 20(1) of the ICA further provides that the statements of accounts so audited shall form part of the Commission’s Annual Report, which, in turn, is required to be submitted to Parliament within three months of the end of each fiscal year.
“In respect of the 2023/2024 fiscal year ended March 31, 31the Commission’s Annual Report, inclusive of the audited and signed financial statements for that fiscal year, was submitted to Parliament on June 26 June 26The report was formally tabled in the House of Representatives on July 9, July 9
The Commission said ironically that the Integrity Commission Parliament Oversight Committee, of which Warmington is a member, “met with the Commission for several hours yesterday morning.”
It said one of the stated purposes of the meeting was to review the Commission’s 2023/2024 annual report, which includes the Commission’s Audited Financial Statements for the 2023/2024 fiscal year. The audited financial statements appear in the last 31 pages of the annual report.
” The letter which approved the appointment of an Independent External Auditor to audit the accounts and financial affairs of the Integrity Commission for the fiscal year 2023/2024, was signed by the minister of finance, Dr. Nigel Clarke, on April 24 April 24
The Integrity Commission said it “remains concerned that there are parliamentarians who continue to exhibit an apparent lack of knowledge, or understanding, of the laws they are elected to write.
“It is also obvious that some parliamentarians do not read the reports of the Integrity Commission that are routinely tabled in the House of Representatives,” the Commission added.
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